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With all of the overtly modernized and technologically-rooted music being released these days, it’s refreshing to meet a new artist who embodies that bluesy, rebellious rock attitude of decades past. Los Angeles singer/songwriter Hanni El Khatib has carved a niche for himself it today’s music scene by focusing on the more traditional components of songwriting, forgoing computer generated sound elements in favor of some good old fashioned percussive punishment and intense (albeit masterful) guitar playing.
For his upcoming sophomore LP, Head In The Dirt, Khatib linked up with fellow musical renaissance man Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Recorded in Auerbach’s Nashville studio, this album is reportedly a made from scratch product, which can be attributed to Hanni’s desire to “erase everything he’d become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration.” The result is an 11-track release that features the lead single “Family,” offered below.
Head In The Dirt will be available for purchase come April 30th on Innovative Leisure. While you wait, be sure to check out Khatib’s debut, Will The Guns Come Out, which released in 2011. You can also catch him out on tour this Spring alongside the Cold War Kids, in addition to sets at SXSW and Coachella. A complete roster of all tour stops is listed below.
Hanni El Khatib 2013 Tour Dates:
03/02 – Mammoth, CA @ Underground Lodge
03/08 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
03/09 – El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls *
03/11 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s *
03/12-16 – Austin, TX @ South by Southwest
04/14 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
04/21 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
05/02 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon #
05/03 – Birmingham, AL @ Work Play Theatre
05/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Shakey Knees Festival
05/05 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
05/07 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue #
05/08 – St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird #
05/09 – Kansas City, MO Riot Room
05/10 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater #
05/11 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot #
05/13 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre #
05/14 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom #
05/15 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
05/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore #
* = w/ Cold War Kids
# = w/ The Black Angels
(CoS)